A digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky.
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Saturday, October 31, 2015

Trapp gets Gish Award for courage in journalism; West accepts Smith Award for Ky. public service

By Casey Parker-Bell

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Two community journalism giants received awards for their
service Thursday night and showed
their gratitude while focusing on how journalists can improve their craft.

Bob Trapp accepts the Gish Award

Robert Trapp Jr., publisher of the Rio Grande Sun in
Española, N.M., accepted the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and
tenacity in rural journalism from the Institute for Rural Journalism and
Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog.

The award was given to the Trapp family, recognizing the work
of his parents, Robert and Ruth Trapp, who started the Sun in 1956
with a partner they later bought out. The weekly paper and the elder Trapp have
received many awards, and Institute Director Al Cross said the Gish Award for
them was overdue.

The award is named for the couple who published The Mountain
Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., for more than 50 years and won national recognition
for their courage, integrity and tenacity as they practiced a straightforward
style of journalism in the face of opposition from powerful interests.

The Eagle and the Sun have exchanged papers for many years,
and members of the Gish family joined Trapp at his table at the Marriott
Griffin Gate Resort in Lexington, Ky.

An emotional Trapp was clearly thankful for the award. He
explained that his parents had put reporting the truth over advertising dollars, and he pointedly described what he believes will improve journalism at all
levels: quality reporting on issues that are important to the community.
“That’s what we should be doing,” he said. “Following the stories that affect
our communities and trying to improve our communities by doing that.”

In his speech, Trapp called community newspapers “the last
bastion of truth in reporting.” Here's a video of the award presentation and his acceptance speech:

Carl West accepts the Al Smith Award

Carl West, former editor of The State Journal in Frankfort,
Ky., and founder of the Kentucky Book FairCommittee, accepted the Al Smith
Award for public service through community journalism by a Kentuckian. The
Institute and the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists
co-sponsor the award.

West also emphasized the importance of newspapers in his
speech. “Newspapers, journalism, it’s a community trust. A public trust,” he
said. He highlighted how important accuracy and fairness are to journalists,
how downsizing is changing newsrooms (including the one where he remains editor
emeritus) and how the people running newspapers should view their service to
the public.

“Newspapers aren’t a bank. You have to make money to own one
and run it. Sure, but you’re not going to get rich,” he said. “If you are going
at it that way, you’re in the wrong business.”

West also spoke about the Kentucky Book Fair and how it has
helped fund public libraries in small communities with limited financial
resources and has touched thousands of book lovers.

The Al Smith Award is named for the co-founder of the
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, who owned weekly
newspapers in Kentucky and Tennessee and was the founding host of KET’s
“Comment on Kentucky.” He also spoke at the dinner.

Nominations for next year's awards will be accepted until April 1, 2016.

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About The Rural Blog

This blog generally follows traditional journalistic standards. It's not about opinions, though you may read one here occasionally. It's about facts that we think will be useful to rural journalists, non-rural journalists who do rural stories, and others interested in rural issues. We don't try to be provocative, so we don't generate as many comments as most blogs with the level of traffic we have, but we certainly invite comments -- and contributions, to al.cross@uky.edu. Feel free to republish blog items, with credit to us and the original source.